The present invention represents an improvement upon the type of syringe needle removal and disposal container disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,849, which is also owned by the assignee herein. As that patent points out, a great concern to hospital staff personnel, as well as others in the medical profession, is the safe handling of used needles and syringes, particularly the quick and safe disposal of needles after injection or blood sampling. A serious risk posed to individuals manually handling the used needles is that of skin puncturing or scratching from the sharp end of the needle. Accidents sustained in this manner are believed to be among the most prevalent cause of injury to hospital workers.
The needle removal and disposal container of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,849 patent is a novel disposal device for hypodermic injection syringe needles as well as single and double-ended sampling needles, for example. The device enables needles to be quickly and safely removed and disposed of by disengagement of the threaded hub of a needle from the syringe body, with the disengaged needle then being deposited in a storage container, without the used needle ever being manually touched.
Similar containers have been developed for collecting and disposing of not only used needles, but also the entire syringe. That is, the used needle may be separately deposited within the container, or the entire syringe can be passed through an opening provided in the container for collection and ultimate disposal and destruction.
Many containers of the foregoing type utilize a cover in the form of a wheel or rotor-like member for the access opening (or openings) provided in the disposal container. This wheel is rotatable between an open position, wherein the opening in the container is accessible for depositing used needles or the entire syringe into the interior of the container, and a closed position, wherein the opening is closed or covered. A rotary cover is indicated in FIG. 5 of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,849 patent, for example.
While such rotory covers are convenient and reasonably effective, there has been no effort made heretofore to provide a locking mechanism for preventing the wheel from being rotated to reopen a full container. Such a locking mechanism for permanently closing the container would be of advantage in preventing a container awaiting disposal from being inadvertently reopened and thereby creating a risk of contamination as well as potential injury from the used needles and syringes collected therein.